Nagpur may well be the first city in the country where the authorities have actually prohibited Coke and Pepsi plants from selling their products. A written order to this effect has been received by bottling plants of both these global giants ion Nagpur.
This in effect has prevented the ready stock worth Rs 49 lakhs from coming out of these two plants into the market. Food and Drugs Joint Commissioner AP Choudhari, while talking to the Hindustan Times, said that realizing the urgency of the problem, the department had decided to prohibit outage from these bottling plants as a precautionary measure.
The issue of banning the popular soft-drinks, Coke and Pepsi, has been raging ever since the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found pesticide residues in products sold in India.
The Maharashtra Government, meanwhile, has started collecting samples of the products from various places in the state to have them tested. Choudhari said that the final ban on production and seizure of existing stocks could come only after tests of the collected samples.
In order to expedite the sample testing, Choudhari said the department had despatched the samples to a Pune laboratory along with its own personnel for hand delivery.
{{/usCountry}}In order to expedite the sample testing, Choudhari said the department had despatched the samples to a Pune laboratory along with its own personnel for hand delivery.
{{/usCountry}}It is learnt that prohibition has affected passage of stock worth Rs 40 lakhs at the SMA Beverages bottling plant for Pepsi at Saoner near Nagpur, while another Rs 9 lakh worth of Coke stock is unable to leave the Superior Drinks unit in the city.